Controlling the spread of pathogens

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods, and computer program products to perform an operation comprising receiving, based on a unique identifier of an identification device in a room, clinical information of a first patient present in the room, receiving a unique identifier from an identification device associated with a garment worn by a health care professional in the room, receiving a history of the garment based on the unique identifier, and upon determining that the history of the garment violates a predefined rule, outputting a notification of the violation.

BACKGROUND

The present invention relates to healthcare, and more specifically, totechniques to control the spread of pathogens.

In healthcare settings such as hospitals, health care professionals movefrom room to room where they are exposed to different patients havingdifferent health conditions. Some of the patients may have contagiousinfections, which can spread from patient to patient via the health careprofessionals. For example, pathogens from a first patient may becarried on a doctor's lab coat or scrubs to a second patient, exposingthe second patient (among others) to further illness if the doctor'sclothing is not properly washed.

SUMMARY

Embodiments disclosed herein provide systems, methods, and computerprogram products to perform an operation comprising receiving, based ona first identifier of a first identification device in a room, clinicalinformation of a first patient present in the room, receiving a secondidentifier from a second identification device associated with a garmentworn by a health care professional in the room, receiving a history ofthe garment based on the second unique identifier, and upon determiningthat the history of the garment violates a predefined rule, outputting anotification of the violation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates techniques to control the spread of pathogens,according to one embodiment.

FIG. 2 illustrates a system configured to control the spread ofpathogens, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method to control the spread ofpathogens, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method to determine a history ofgarments, according to one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments disclosed herein use historical information about garmentsworn by health care professionals to determine whether the location ofany given garment violates a predefined rule. To this end, the garmentsmay be tagged with unique identifiers (such as radio frequencyidentifier (RFID) chips) that are associated with historicalinformation. The historical information may indicate when the garmentswere washed (and by what washing method) and what types of pathogens thegarments have been exposed to. If a garment has been exposed to apathogen, and the garment has not been properly washed subsequent to theexposure, embodiments disclosed herein may output a notification toprevent the pathogen from spreading.

For example, when a doctor enters a patient's hospital room, RFIDscanners may scan the RFID tags on garments worn by the doctor. Based onthe RFID tags, embodiments disclosed herein may retrieve a history forgarments. The history may specify a set of previous washes of thegarments, which may include timestamps of each washing of the garmentsand the methods by which the garments were washed. The history of thegarments may also indicate which patients (and any associated pathogensor other conditions of the patients) the garments have previously beenexposed to. Embodiments disclosed herein leverage this information todetermine whether the doctor's presence in the room violate any rulesintended to prevent the spread of pathogens. For example, a rule mayspecify that garments exposed to patients having influenza must bewashed prior to the garments being exposed to any other patients. If,for example, the history of a lab coat indicates the doctor wore the labcoat while attending to a patient who has influenza, and the garment hasnot been washed since the exposure to influenza, embodiments disclosedherein may issue an alert to notify the doctor that he or she should notenter the room of another patient. For example, when the doctor entersthe next patient's room, embodiments disclosed herein may trigger analert on the doctor's smart phone indicating that the doctor needs tochange the lab coat before entering the room.

Generally, when a doctor is exposed to a patient (such as by enteringthe patient's room, or being in an operating room with the patient),embodiments disclosed herein may use the RFID identifiers to create anassociation between the garments worn by the doctor (and/or the doctorindividually) and the patient. In addition, the patient's medicalhistory may be referenced (using, for example, an RFID tag in thepatient's room that is associated with the patient) to associate thegarments with any pathogens or other medical conditions the patient mayhave. One or more rules may specify requirements for washing thegarments subsequent to any such exposure. When the RFID tags on thedoctor's garments are scanned in a different room (or around a differentpatient), embodiments disclosed herein may determine whether the rulesfor washing the garment have been satisfied. If the rules have not beensatisfied, embodiments disclosed herein may trigger an alert to preventthe doctor from possibly exposing another person to the illness.

In addition, the rules may specify constraints that are based onlocations. For example, assume there is a particular part of a hospitaldesignated for people with highly infectious communicable diseases. Adoctor entering that area may be identified and registered in themonitoring system, regardless of which particular patient or patientsthe doctor interacts with. An alert may then be triggered when thedoctor subsequently leaves the designated area and attempts to enteranother area of the hospital. As used herein, the term “health careprofessional” refers to any person interacting with patients, including,without limitation, doctors, dentists, nurses, physical therapists,support staff, janitorial staff, and the like. While specific locations,such as hospital rooms, operating rooms, or other areas where patientsmay interact with health care professional are used as examples herein,any such use is for illustrative purposes, and should not be consideredlimiting of the disclosure.

FIG. 1 illustrates techniques to control the spread of pathogens,according to one embodiment. Generally, the block diagram 100 depictsinterrelated components configured to control the spread of pathogens byenforcing proper sanitation and washing rules for garments worn byhealth care professionals. As shown, a central server 101 may becommunicably coupled with garments 104, washing stations 102, andpatient locations 103 (such as patient rooms). Generally, a garment maybe any body-worn item capable of transferring pathogens. In particular,garments include clothing such as pants, shirts, coats, scrubs, hats,shoes, etc. Garments may further include articles patients are exposedto, such as bed sheets, towels, and the like. As shown, the garments 104include one or more identification devices 105. The identificationdevices 105 may be any hardware configured to transmit a uniqueidentifier to a receiver. Examples of identification devices include asRFID tags, Bluetooth® modules, global positioning system (GPS) modules,near field communication (NFC) modules and the like. When a garment 104is washed at a washing station 102 (or otherwise sanitized), a record ofthe washing event may be associated with the identification devices 105of the garment, and stored in the server 101. The record of the washingevent may include a timestamp of the washing and any methods used towash the garment 104 (such as temperature of water, cleansing agentsused, chemical cleaning methods, and the like). In one embodiment, therecord may be automatically created upon detecting that the garment 104has entered the washing station 102 (i.e., is with insufficientproximity for a card reader located in the washing station to read theidentification device on the garment). In another embodiment, a humanoperator may be required to explicitly create the record of the washingevent (e.g., by manually scanning the garment and entering the desiredwashing history via a terminal).

As shown, the patient room 103 includes a reader device 106, and anidentification device 105 that may be associated with a patient (notpictured). The reader device 106 may be any device configured to receivea unique identifier from an identification device, such as an RFIDreader, GPS receiver, Bluetooth receiver or NFC device. When a person(such as a doctor) wearing a garment 104 enters the room 103, the reader106 may detect the identification devices 105 in the garment. In aparticular embodiment, detection occurs once the reader 106 and theidentification devices 105 are within some predefined distance of oneanother (i.e., within communication range of each other). The reader 106may transmit the unique identifiers of the identification devices 105 tothe server 101, which may identify the washing history of the garment,and any patients the garment was previously exposed to. The server 101may then identify one or more rules (not pictured) related to a medicalcondition (or pathogen) the previous patients may have had. If theserver 101 determines that the washing history (and/or the exposurehistory) would violate a rule as to the patient in the room 103, theserver 101 may generate and output a notification that the doctor shouldnot enter the room 103 wearing the garment 104. The notification may besent to a mobile device used by the doctor (not pictured), or outputtedby a speaker, monitor, or other device in the room 103 (or proximatethereto). Generally, the notification may be of any type.

For example, if the server 101 determines that the garment 104 waspreviously exposed to a bacterium, the server 101 may reference a rulefor washing the garment 104 which indicates any garment exposed to thebacterium must be washed in hot water (for example, at 80 degreesCelsius). The server 101 may reference the washing history and determinethat the garment 104 was exposed to the bacterium at 10:00 AM on Friday,Apr. 17, 2015, and the garment 104 was washed at 10:30 AM on the samedate. If the doctor attempts to wear the garment 104 into the room 103at 1:00 PM on Apr. 17, 2015, the server 101 would permit the doctor toproceed with the patient visit in the room 103. However, if the 10:30 AMwash event is not detected, and the most recent wash associated with theidentification devices 105 of the garment 104 occurred on Apr. 16, 2015,then the server 101 would output a notification that the garment 104should not be worn in the room 103 to prevent the spread of thebacterium to the patient in room 103. Similarly, if the most recent washrecord indicates that the garment was washed in water at 70 degreesCelsius, the server 101 would output a notification that the garment 104should not be worn in the room 103.

In addition to electromagnetic signaling technology, embodimentsdisclosed herein may further leverage visual identification techniques.For example, the garments may be provisioned with an elementidentifiable by a camera system. The element may be, for example, aphysical object secured in a prominent location on the garment. Theelement could be a Universal Product Code (UPC), Quick Response (QR)code, or a reflective material that produces a unique spectralsignature. In such embodiments, a camera system may track the movementof these garments.

FIG. 2 illustrates a system 200 configured to control the spread ofpathogens, according to one embodiment. The networked system 200includes a computer 202. The computer 202 may also be connected to othercomputers via a network 230. In general, the network 230 may be atelecommunications network and/or a wide area network (WAN). In aparticular embodiment, the network 230 is the Internet.

The computer 202 generally includes a processor 204 which obtainsinstructions and data via a bus 220 from a memory 206 and/or a storage208. The computer 202 may also include one or more network interfacedevices 218, input devices 222, and output devices 224 connected to thebus 220. The computer 202 is generally under the control of an operatingsystem (not shown). Examples of operating systems include the UNIXoperating system, versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system,and distributions of the Linux operating system. (UNIX is a registeredtrademark of The Open Group in the United States and other countries.Microsoft and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in theUnited States, other countries, or both. Linux is a registered trademarkof Linus Torvalds in the United States, other countries, or both.) Moregenerally, any operating system supporting the functions disclosedherein may be used. The processor 204 is a programmable logic devicethat performs instruction, logic, and mathematical processing, and maybe representative of one or more CPUs. The network interface device 218may be any type of network communications device allowing the computer202 to communicate with other computers via the network 230.

The storage 208 is representative of hard-disk drives, solid statedrives, flash memory devices, optical media and the like. Generally, thestorage 208 stores application programs and data for use by the computer202. In addition, the memory 206 and the storage 208 may be consideredto include memory physically located elsewhere; for example, on anothercomputer coupled to the computer 202 via the bus 220.

The input device 222 may be any device for providing input to thecomputer 202. For example, a keyboard and/or a mouse may be used. Theinput device 222 represents a wide variety of input devices, includingkeyboards, mice, controllers, and so on. Furthermore, the input device222 may include a set of buttons, switches or other physical devicemechanisms for controlling the computer 202. The output device 224 mayinclude output devices such as monitors, touch screen displays, and soon.

As shown, the memory 206 contains the controller 112, which is anapplication generally configured to control the spread of pathogens.More specifically, the controller 112 determines whether garments 250worn by health care professionals violate any of the rules 216. When areader 106 at a given location 270 reads an identification (ID) device105 of a garment 250, the controller 212 may receive a unique identifierof the ID device 105 via the network 230. The controller 212 may thenreference the history 217 of the ID device 105 to determine when theassociated garment 250 was previously washed, and any patients that thegarment 250 was exposed to. The controller 212 may further identify anyassociated pathogens or other illnesses associated with the patient inthe patient data 215. If the controller 212 determines that the garment250 being in the location 270 violates one of the rules 216, thecontroller 212 may output a notification that the garment 250 needs tobe removed from the location 270. The garments 250 may be any type ofclothing, footwear, accessories, and the like.

For example, a nurse may wear scrubs with an associated ID device 105 toa first patient's hospital room. A reader 106 in the first patient'sroom may identify the ID device 105 affixed to the scrubs, and store anindication that the scrubs were present in the first patient's room inthe history 217. The first patient may be identified by a respective IDdevice 105 that is associated with the patient. If the nursesubsequently goes to a second patient's room in the hospital, the reader106 in the second hospital room may detect the ID device 105 of thenurse's scrubs, and transmit the unique identifier of the ID device 105of the scrubs to the controller 212. The controller 212 may use theunique identifier of the ID device 105 of the scrubs to determine, basedon the history data 217, that the nurse was previously in the firstpatient's room. The controller 212 may then reference the patient data215 to determine what conditions or pathogens the first patient has, andidentify any rules 216 associated with the identified pathogens orconditions the first patient has. For example, if the patient data 215indicates the first patient has chicken pox, the controller 212 mayidentify a rule 216 indicating any garments exposed to chicken pox mustbe washed in a chemical bath to kill the virus. The controller 212 mayalso search the history data 217 to determine whether the scrubs werewashed in the chemical bath subsequent to the nurse's visit to the firstpatient. If the history 217 does not have a record indicating the scrubswere washed in a chemical bath, the controller 212 may send anotification to the nurse's user device 212 that the nurse must removethe scrubs prior to entering the second patient's room.

As shown, the storage 208 includes the rules 216, the history data 217,and patient data 215. The rules 216 include any type of rule to preventthe spread of pathogens or illnesses. For example, the rules 216 mayspecify washing instructions that are mapped to specific pathogens. Thewashing instructions may specify washing methods, timing of washes, andthe like. Similarly, the rules 216 may specify conditions or pathogenswhich different patients (or classes of patients) cannot be exposed to.The history 217 includes a history of an ID device 105 affixed to eachgarment 250. The history 217 therefore includes an indication of eachlocation 270 where each garment 250 was worn, a timestamp of eachwashing of a garment 250 (and by what method the garment was washed),and identifiers of any patients the garment 250 was exposed to. Thepatient data 215 may include any information about a patient, includingassociated rules 216, medical history, current conditions, currentpathogens, current illnesses, and the like.

The user devices 290 may be any type of computing device, such as alaptop, tablet computer, smart phone, pager, desktop computer, and thelike. As shown, the user devices 290 execute an instance of thecontroller 212, which is configured to output notifications on the userdevices 290 when a rule 216 is violated. The locations 270 may be anylocation in a health care facility, such as patient examination rooms,operating rooms, reception areas, and the like. The locations 270include a reader 106 that is configured to read or receive uniqueidentifiers from ID devices 105. For example, a washing room 270 mayhave a reader 106 that identifies each garment 250 that is washed bystaff When staff washes a garment 250, an entry specifying the ID device105 of the garment 250, a timestamp, and washing method may be createdin the history 217. Each location 270 may include an ID device 105 thatmay be associated with a patient (such as when the location 270 is ahospital room, and the ID device 105 is associated with the patientstaying in the room).

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method 300 to control the spreadof pathogens, according to one embodiment. The method 300 begins at step310, where garments are associated with one or more ID devices 105. Forexample, an RFID chip may be embedded into the collar of lab coats,scrubs, and the like. At step 320, data reflecting each time a garmentis washed may be stored in the history 217. The recorded data mayinclude a timestamp indicating when the garment was washed and whattechniques were used to wash the garment. At step 330, patients may beassociated with an ID device 105. For example, an RFID chip in apatient's room may be associated with the patient (and the patient'srecords in the patient data 215). At step 340, an ID device reader 106may determine that a first person is entering a first room by receivingthe unique identifier from the ID device 105 associated with a garmentof clothing worn by the first person. At step 350, the controller 212may determine a history of the garments worn by the first person basedon the detected ID devices 105. The controller 212 may, for example,identify records in the history data 217 specifying the uniqueidentifier of the ID device 105 worn by the first person. The records inthe history data 217 may indicate washing history and patients that thegarments were exposed to. At step 360, the controller 212 may determinethe clinical information of a patient in the first room by referencingthe patient data 215. Doing so allows the controller 212 to identify anyrelevant pathogens, conditions, and/or rules 216 associated with thefirst patient. In at least one embodiment, if the rules 216 are notspecified in the patient data 215, the controller 212 may identify rules216 based on the pathogens or other conditions of the patient. At step370, the controller 212 may determine whether a rule 216 is violated.For example, if a rule 216 indicates a garment must be washed afterbeing exposed to a virus, the controller 212 may check the history 217to determine whether the garment was washed after being exposed to thevirus. At step 380, the controller 212 may, upon determining that a ruleis violated, output a notification that the rule is violated. Forexample, if the controller 212 determines that the lab coat of the firstperson has not been washed since being exposed to the virus, thecontroller 212 may output the notification that the lab coat should notbe worn in the first room.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method 400 corresponding to step360 to determine a history of garments, according to one embodiment. Asshown, the method begins at step 410, where the controller 212 executesa loop including steps 420-450 for each ID device 105 detected at step340. At step 420, the controller 212 may identify each patient that waspreviously exposed to the garment based on entries in the history data217 associated with the current ID device 105. At step 430, thecontroller 212 may identify clinical information for each patientidentified at step 420 from the patient data 215. At step 440, thecontroller 212 may determine the washing history of each garment, whichmay include the method and time of each washing. In at least oneembodiment, the controller 212 may impose date and/or time restrictionson the data searched for at steps 420, 430, and/or 440 to limit the sizeof data sets returned by the respective data stores. At step 450, thecontroller 212 may determine whether any more ID devices 105 remain. Ifmore ID devices 105 were identified at step 340, the method returns tostep 410 to determine the history of the garment. If no more ID devices105 remain, the method proceeds to step 460, where the garment historiesare returned.

Advantageously, embodiments disclosed herein provide precise tracking ofgarments, the patients the garments are exposed to, the pathogens ormedical conditions of the patients, and the washing history of eachgarment. If a rule related to washing the garment is violated,embodiments disclosed herein output warning notifications to prevent thespread of pathogens to other people.

The descriptions of the various embodiments of the present inventionhave been presented for purposes of illustration, but are not intendedto be exhaustive or limited to the embodiments disclosed. Manymodifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skillin the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the describedembodiments. The terminology used herein was chosen to best explain theprinciples of the embodiments, the practical application or technicalimprovement over technologies found in the marketplace, or to enableothers of ordinary skill in the art to understand the embodimentsdisclosed herein.

In the foregoing, reference is made to embodiments presented in thisdisclosure. However, the scope of the present disclosure is not limitedto specific described embodiments. Instead, any combination of therecited features and elements, whether related to different embodimentsor not, is contemplated to implement and practice contemplatedembodiments. Furthermore, although embodiments disclosed herein mayachieve advantages over other possible solutions or over the prior art,whether or not a particular advantage is achieved by a given embodimentis not limiting of the scope of the present disclosure. Thus, therecited aspects, features, embodiments and advantages are merelyillustrative and are not considered elements or limitations of theappended claims except where explicitly recited in a claim(s). Likewise,reference to “the invention” shall not be construed as a generalizationof any inventive subject matter disclosed herein and shall not beconsidered to be an element or limitation of the appended claims exceptwhere explicitly recited in a claim(s).

Aspects of the present invention may take the form of an entirelyhardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment (includingfirmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or an embodimentcombining software and hardware aspects that may all generally bereferred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”

The present invention may be a system, a method, and/or a computerprogram product. The computer program product may include a computerreadable storage medium (or media) having computer readable programinstructions thereon for causing a processor to carry out aspects of thepresent invention.

The computer readable storage medium can be a tangible device that canretain and store instructions for use by an instruction executiondevice. The computer readable storage medium may be, for example, but isnot limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device,an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, asemiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. A non-exhaustive list of more specific examples of thecomputer readable storage medium includes the following: a portablecomputer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), aread-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROMor Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portablecompact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD),a memory stick, a floppy disk, a mechanically encoded device such aspunch-cards or raised structures in a groove having instructionsrecorded thereon, and any suitable combination of the foregoing. Acomputer readable storage medium, as used herein, is not to be construedas being transitory signals per se, such as radio waves or other freelypropagating electromagnetic waves, electromagnetic waves propagatingthrough a waveguide or other transmission media (e.g., light pulsespassing through a fiber-optic cable), or electrical signals transmittedthrough a wire.

Computer readable program instructions described herein can bedownloaded to respective computing/processing devices from a computerreadable storage medium or to an external computer or external storagedevice via a network, for example, the Internet, a local area network, awide area network and/or a wireless network. The network may comprisecopper transmission cables, optical transmission fibers, wirelesstransmission, routers, firewalls, switches, gateway computers and/oredge servers. A network adapter card or network interface in eachcomputing/processing device receives computer readable programinstructions from the network and forwards the computer readable programinstructions for storage in a computer readable storage medium withinthe respective computing/processing device.

Computer readable program instructions for carrying out operations ofthe present invention may be assembler instructions,instruction-set-architecture (ISA) instructions, machine instructions,machine dependent instructions, microcode, firmware instructions,state-setting data, or either source code or object code written in anycombination of one or more programming languages, including an objectoriented programming language such as Smalltalk, C++ or the like, andconventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C”programming language or similar programming languages. The computerreadable program instructions may execute entirely on the user'scomputer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone softwarepackage, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computeror entirely on the remote computer or server. In the latter scenario,the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through anytype of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide areanetwork (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer(for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).In some embodiments, electronic circuitry including, for example,programmable logic circuitry, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA), orprogrammable logic arrays (PLA) may execute the computer readableprogram instructions by utilizing state information of the computerreadable program instructions to personalize the electronic circuitry,in order to perform aspects of the present invention.

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer readable program instructions.

These computer readable program instructions may be provided to aprocessor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, orother programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, suchthat the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computeror other programmable data processing apparatus, create means forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks. These computer readable program instructionsmay also be stored in a computer readable storage medium that can directa computer, a programmable data processing apparatus, and/or otherdevices to function in a particular manner, such that the computerreadable storage medium having instructions stored therein comprises anarticle of manufacture including instructions which implement aspects ofthe function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram blockor blocks.

The computer readable program instructions may also be loaded onto acomputer, other programmable data processing apparatus, or other deviceto cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer,other programmable apparatus or other device to produce a computerimplemented process, such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer, other programmable apparatus, or other device implement thefunctions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block orblocks.

The flowchart and block diagrams in the Figures illustrate thearchitecture, functionality, and operation of possible implementationsof systems, methods, and computer program products according to variousembodiments of the present invention. In this regard, each block in theflowchart or block diagrams may represent a module, segment, or portionof instructions, which comprises one or more executable instructions forimplementing the specified logical function(s). In some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks shown in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combinations of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts or carry out combinations of special purpose hardwareand computer instructions.

Embodiments of the invention may be provided to end users through acloud computing infrastructure. Cloud computing generally refers to theprovision of scalable computing resources as a service over a network.More formally, cloud computing may be defined as a computing capabilitythat provides an abstraction between the computing resource and itsunderlying technical architecture (e.g., servers, storage, networks),enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool ofconfigurable computing resources that can be rapidly provisioned andreleased with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.Thus, cloud computing allows a user to access virtual computingresources (e.g., storage, data, applications, and even completevirtualized computing systems) in “the cloud,” without regard for theunderlying physical systems (or locations of those systems) used toprovide the computing resources.

Typically, cloud computing resources are provided to a user on apay-per-use basis, where users are charged only for the computingresources actually used (e.g. an amount of storage space consumed by auser or a number of virtualized systems instantiated by the user). Auser can access any of the resources that reside in the cloud at anytime, and from anywhere across the Internet. In context of the presentinvention, a user may access applications or related data available inthe cloud. For example, the controller 212 could execute on a computingsystem in the cloud and emit notifications when rules 216 are violatedin a health care environment. In such a case, the controller couldreceive data regarding garment exposure to patients and store historydata 217 at a storage location in the cloud. Doing so allows a user toaccess this information from any computing system attached to a networkconnected to the cloud (e.g., the Internet).

While the foregoing is directed to embodiments of the present invention,other and further embodiments of the invention may be devised withoutdeparting from the basic scope thereof, and the scope thereof isdetermined by the claims that follow.

1-7. (canceled)
 8. A system, comprising: one or more computerprocessors; and a memory containing a program which when executed by theprocessors performs an operation comprising: receiving clinicalinformation of a first patient present in a room, wherein the clinicalinformation comprises a disease type of the first patient and isreceived from a digital record of the first patient, the digital recordhaving been accessed based on a first identifier of a firstidentification device in the room; receiving a second identifier from asecond identification device associated with a garment worn by a healthcare professional in the room; receiving a history of the garment basedon the second identifier; and upon determining that the history of thegarment violates a predefined rule associated with the clinicalinformation of the first patient, outputting a notification of theviolation.
 9. The system of claim 8, wherein the history of the garmentcomprises: (i) a set of patients previously exposed to the garment, (ii)clinical information of each of the patients in the set of patientspreviously exposed to the garment, and (iii) a washing history of thegarment, wherein the washing history specifies, for each of a pluralityof washes of the garment, a respective date, time, and washing method.10. The system of claim 8, wherein the rule comprises one of: (i) a setof medical conditions the first patient cannot be exposed to, (ii) arequired method of washing the garment, and (iii) a required timing ofwashing the garment.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the requiredmethod of washing the garment and the required timing of washing thegarment are based on a medical condition, wherein each of a plurality ofrequired methods of washing the garment are based on a respectivemedical condition, wherein each of a plurality of required washing timesare based on a respective medical condition, the operation furthercomprising prior to receiving the clinical information: associating thefirst patient with the first identifier of the first identificationdevice in the room; identifying the first patient based on the firstidentifier of the first identification device in the room; andreferencing a data store storing the digital record of the first patientusing the first identifier of the first identification device whereinthe first patient is of a plurality of patients having a respectivedigital record in the data store.
 12. The system of claim 8, wherein theclinical information stored in the digital record of the first patientfurther comprises: (i) a pathogen type of the first patient, (ii) anallergy of the first patient, and (iii) a medical condition of the firstpatient.
 13. The system of claim 8, where the identification devicescomprise one or more of: (i) an radio frequency identification (RFID)device, (ii) a global positioning system (GPS) device, (iii) a Bluetoothdevice, and (iv) a near field communication (NFC) device.
 14. The systemof claim 8, wherein the garment was previously exposed to a secondpatient, the operation further comprising: determining, based on adigital record of the second patient, that the second patient has afirst disease; and determining that the rule specifies that the firstpatient does not have the first disease and should not be exposed to thefirst disease, wherein outputting the notification of the violationprevents the health care professional from wearing the garment in theroom of the first patient.
 15. A computer program product, comprising: acomputer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program codeembodied therewith, the computer-readable program code executable by oneor more computer processors to perform an operation comprising:receiving clinical information of a first patient present in a room,wherein the clinical information comprises a disease type of the firstpatient and is received from a digital record of the first patient, thedigital record having been accessed based on a first identifier of afirst identification device in the room; receiving a second identifierfrom a second identification device associated with a garment worn by ahealth care professional in the room; receiving a history of the garmentbased on the second identifier; and upon determining that the history ofthe garment violates a predefined rule associated with the clinicalinformation of the first patient, outputting a notification of theviolation.
 16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein thehistory of the garment comprises: (i) a set of patients previouslyexposed to the garment, (ii) clinical information of each of thepatients in the set of patients previously exposed to the garment, and(iii) a washing history of the garment, wherein the washing historyspecifies, for each of a plurality of washes of the garment, arespective date, time, and washing method.
 17. The computer programproduct of claim 15, wherein the rule comprises one of: (i) a set ofmedical conditions the first patient cannot be exposed to, (ii) arequired method of washing the garment, and (iii) a required timing ofwashing the garment, the operation further comprising prior to receivingthe clinical information: associating the first patient with the firstidentifier of the first identification device in the room; identifyingthe first patient based on the first identifier of the firstidentification device in the room; and referencing a data store storingthe digital record of the first patient using the first identifier ofthe first identification device wherein the first patient is of aplurality of patients having a respective digital record in the datastore.
 18. The computer program product of claim 17, wherein therequired method of washing the garment and the required timing ofwashing the garment are based on a medical condition, wherein each of aplurality of required methods of washing the garment are based on arespective medical condition, wherein each of a plurality of requiredwashing times are based on a respective medical condition.
 19. Thecomputer program product of claim 15, wherein the clinical informationstored in the digital record of the first patient further comprises: (i)a pathogen type of the first patient, (ii) an allergy of the firstpatient, and (iii) a medical condition of the first patient.
 20. Thecomputer program product of claim 15, where the identification devicescomprise one or more of: (i) an radio frequency identification (RFID)device, (ii) a global positioning system (GPS) device, (iii) a Bluetoothdevice, and (iv) a near field communication (NFC) device, wherein thegarment was previously exposed to a second patient, the operationfurther comprising: determining, based on a digital record of the secondpatient, that the second patient has a first disease; and determiningthat the rule specifies that the first patient does not have the firstdisease and should not be exposed to the first disease, whereinoutputting the notification of the violation prevents the health careprofessional from wearing the garment in the room of the first patient.